Whose Trees

The inspiring tale of an Edwardian eccentric and the world's first "tree hugger," Man of the Trees introduces the storied life of Richard St. Barbe Baker to the world.

This book is a collection of articles studying various Steiner tree prob lems with applications in industries, such as the design of electronic cir cuits, computer networking, telecommunication, and perfect phylogeny. The Steiner tree problem was initiated in the Euclidean plane. Given a set of points in the Euclidean plane, the shortest network interconnect ing the points in the set is called the Steiner minimum tree. The Steiner minimum tree may contain some vertices which are not the given points. Those vertices are called Steiner points while the given points are called terminals. The shortest network for three terminals was first studied by Fermat (1601-1665). Fermat proposed the problem of finding a point to minimize the total distance from it to three terminals in the Euclidean plane. The direct generalization is to find a point to minimize the total distance from it to n terminals, which is still called the Fermat problem today. The Steiner minimum tree problem is an indirect generalization. Schreiber in 1986 found that this generalization (i.e., the Steiner mini mum tree) was first proposed by Gauss.

Random Generation of Trees is about a field on the crossroads between computer science, combinatorics and probability theory. Computer scientists need random generators for performance analysis, simulation, image synthesis, etc. In this context random generation of trees is of particular interest. The algorithms presented here are efficient and easy to code. Some aspects of Horton--Strahler numbers, programs written in C and pictures are presented in the appendices. The complexity analysis is done rigorously both in the worst and average cases. Random Generation of Trees is intended for students in computer science and applied mathematics as well as researchers interested in random generation.

WINNER OF THE 2018 JOHN BURROUGHS MEDAL FOR OUTSTANDING NATURAL HISTORY WRITING “Both a love song to trees, an exploration of their biology, and a wonderfully philosophical analysis of their role they play in human history and in modern culture.” —Science Friday The author of Sounds Wild and Broken and the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Forest Unseen visits with nature’s most magnificent networkers — trees David Haskell has won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, he brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees, exploring connections with people, microbes, fungi, and other plants and animals. He takes us to trees in cities (from Manhattan to Jerusalem), forests (Amazonian, North American, and boreal) and areas on the front lines of environmental change (eroding coastlines, burned mountainsides, and war zones.) In each place he shows how human history, ecology, and well-being are intimately intertwined with the lives of trees. Scientific, lyrical, and contemplative, Haskell reveals the biological connections that underpin all life. In a world beset by barriers, he reminds us that life’s substance and beauty emerge from relationship and interdependence.

Forests, with their interlacing networks of trees and secret patterns of communication, are powerful entities for thinking-with. A majestic terrestrial community of arboreal others, their presence echoes, entangles, and resonates deeply with the human world. The essays collected here aim to highlight human encounters with the forest and its trees at the time of the European Middle Ages, when, whether symbol and metaphor, or actual and real, their lofty boughs were weighted with meaning. The chapters interrogate the pre-Anthropocene environment, reflecting on trees as metaphors for kinship and knowledge as they appear in literary, historical, art-historical, and philosophical sources. They examine images of trees and trees in-themselves across a range of environmental, material, and intellectual contexts, and consider how humans used arboreal and rhizomatic forms to negotiate bodies of knowledge and processes of transition. Looking beyond medieval Europe, they include discussion of parallel developments in the Islamic world and that of the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.

The passionate response of the British public to the Newbury Bypass is a revealing measure of how strongly people feel about trees and the environment. Similarly, in the United States, the giant sequoia of California is an enduring national symbol that inspires intense feelings. As rainforests are sacrificed to the interests of multi-national corporations and traditional ways of life disappear, the status of forests, the cultural significance of trees, and the impact of conservation policies are subjects that have inspired intense engagement. Why do people feel so strongly about trees? With this explosion of interest in environmental issues, a serious study of what trees mean to people has long been overdue. This interdisciplinary book responds to this need by providing the first cross-cultural analysis of tree symbolism. Drawing on rich case studies, contributors explore the processes through which trees are used as metaphors of identity and continuity. Political struggles over forest resources feature prominently, and the perceptions of trees in various cultures provide telling insights into the ways in which human societies conceptualize nature.As well as being a major contribution to the field of symbolic anthropology, this comprehensive study will be essential reading for students in a wide range of courses and for anyone with a keen interest in the politics of ecology, the occult and neo-paganism, and the history and sociology of environmentalism in its widest sense.

Exploring childbirth from within a Jewish tradition, the author of New Lifedraws on folklore, prayers, folk remedies, and biblical, rabbinical, and mystical literature to discuss Jewish beliefs, values, and customs concerning the birth of a child. Winner of the National Jewish Book Award. Reprint.

An informative, richly illustrated book about eighty of the world’s most important and remarkable trees Our planet is home to some three trillion trees—roughly four hundred for every person on Earth. In Trees of Life, Max Adams selects, from sixty thousand extant species, eighty remarkable trees through which to celebrate the richness of humanity’s relationship with trees, woods, and forests. In a sequence of informative and beautifully illustrated portraits, divided between six thematic sections, Adams investigates the trees that human cultures have found most useful across the world and ages: trees that yield timber and other materials of immense practical value, trees that bear edible fruits and nuts, trees that deliver special culinary ingredients and traditions, and trees that give us dyes, essences, and medicines. In a section titled “Supertrees,” Adams considers trees that have played a pivotal role in maintaining natural and social communities, while a final section, “Trees for the Planet,” looks at a group of trees so valuable to humanity that they must be protected at all costs from loss. From the apple to the oak, the logwood to the breadfruit, and the paper mulberry to the Dahurian larch, these are trees that offer not merely shelter, timber, and fuel but also drugs, foods, and fibers. Trees of Life presents a plethora of fascinating stories about them.